A review by sonofthunder
Code of the Lifemaker by James P. Hogan

3.0

Alright so this is a throwback. I have very vivid memories of reading this book back freshman year of high school. That was a year where I spent quite a bit of time perusing the media center shelves at Gaither...and read lots of random books (some great, some...not as great??). This was one of them. And yes, I confess I'm vain enough that the main reason I picked this one up at the time was the author's name. How could I not? So I read it (again - vivid memories! Recall reading this in the back of Mrs. Bane's computer class...once I finished all my work, I usually had loads of time to spare...she never minded! Mrs. Bane was fantastic, just saying) and for some reason all these years later, I still from time to time thought about the plot of this book, just because the concept was so fascinating. Rather than talk about my own life story, let's discuss the book hm? This book honestly isn't one that I can say is amazing or has gorgeous prose. Rather, the characters are a bit flat and the prose is workmanlike. But...the concept - the hook, as it may be - is fantastic. An alien automated machine colony gone a bit haywire...and thousands of years later brings what? Well, your average medieval robot society, of course. So this book deals with the humans from earth(in all their glory - for reals, this author did not have a high opinion of the current trajectory of the human race. It is quite amusing reading his thinly veiled critique of the modern era. I think I didn't realise all this when I read it back when I was 14...) making first contact with the aforesaid medieval robots. The best part of this book by far is figuring out how this robotic society actually works...and it is fascinating! All the things that are "grown" and "cultivated" are actually mechanized and machine-like. All the things that are crafted and carefully produced are actually...organic! It's a fun switch and I enjoyed experiencing this machine world of Titan (yes, the moon of Saturn! Skipped that part, did I?). Anyways, like I said - the plot itself is fairly predictable and the characters are definitely nothing to write home about, but I enjoyed this book nonetheless. The author has some pretty strong views on modern society, the entertainment culture, religion, government...and honestly even though I didn't always agree with him, this was a good view into the mindset of a man in 1983. Old sci-fi books are always a treat for this very reason. A window into a different age. And sadly (or not), a lot of the things that the author bemoaned from back in the day really haven't changed that much now. There is nothing new under the sun. We humans so often seek to subjugate and dominate others. Our voracious appetites for pleasure and happiness often lead us to unthinking consumption of the worst sorts of filth and nonsense. We don't think as critically as we ought and the wisdom that we think we claim is often a thin veneer of shiny over a rotting corpse of emptiness. It is interesting how we as humans seek to find the meaning of life yet so often miss what is all around us.